1 Introduction

This document defines the messages of the Electronic Release Notification Message Suite standard (ERN). It was developed by the member organisations of the Digital Data Exchange, LLC (DDEX). Any organisation wishing to implement this (or any other DDEX standard) is required to apply for an Implementation Licence. The terms of the licence and an application form can be found here and here.

The suite of messages contained in this part of the ERN standard provide a mechanism for record companies or distributors to inform digital music service providers or DSPs about releases that can be made available to consumers as electronic products. Such releases can be made available through a range of business models, for example, for download under pay-as-you-go, advertisement-supported and subscription models as well as streaming models. This part of the ERN standard supports audio and audio-visual content as well as physical products.

The NewReleaseMessage contained in this part of the ERN standard enables standardised information flow about the releases themselves (known in the ERN standard as release metadata) as well as information about the commercial terms (known in the ERN standard as deal metadata) under which such releases can be made available to consumers. The NewReleaseMessage can be used to communicate release and deal metadata relating to one or several countries, or indeed relating to worldwide use.

The PurgeReleaseMessage enables a record company or distributor to completely remove a release from a DSP’s offering in circumstances where the use of the NewReleaseMessage would be inappropriate.

Sending or receiving a message as defined in this part of the ERN standard cannot be presumed to indicate that all legal obligations are met for the releases to be legitimately made available.